WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - In a victory for the video game industry and free speech advocates, the Supreme Court has struck down a California law banning the sale of 'violent' video games to minors.
The 7-2 ruling unveiled on Monday determined that the California law abridges the First Amendment rights of young people.
'No doubt a State possesses legitimate power to protect children from harm,' Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority. 'But that does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed.'
Scalia also noted that there is not a long standing tradition of specially restricting children's access to depictions of violence, citing examples of violence in Grimm's Fairy Tales, Snow White, and Cinderella.
The Court ruling also rejected California's claims that video games present special problems because they are 'interactive.'
The law, which was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005 but has never taken effect, defined violent video games as games that depict 'killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being.'
Under the law, retailers could have been fined as much as $1,000 for selling violent games to minors. The law also would have required an '18' label to be placed prominently on excessively violent games.
While Justices Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts agreed that the law should be struck down, they indicated that a more narrowly tailored law might be upheld.
'I would hold only that the particular law at issue here fails to provide the clear notice that the Constitution requires,' Alito wrote. 'I would not squelch legislative efforts to deal with what is perceived by some to be a significant and developing social problem.'
He added, 'If differently framed statutes are enacted by the States or by the Federal Government, we can consider the constitutionality of those laws when cases challenging them are presented to us.'
Meanwhile, Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer dissented, ruling that the ban should be upheld, although the unlikely duo cited different reasons.
The Entertainment Software Association, which was among the groups that challenged the law, called the ruling a historic and complete win for the First Amendment and the creative freedom of artists and storytellers everywhere.
'The Supreme Court affirmed what we have always known - that free speech protections apply every bit as much to video games as they do to other forms of creative expression like books, movies and music,' said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA.
He added, 'The Court declared forcefully that content-based restrictions on games are unconstitutional; and that parents, not government bureaucrats, have the right to decide what is appropriate for their children.'
The video game industry has argued that its existing ratings system provides significant warning to parents, with an 'M' rating placed on games that are deemed to be especially violent.
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© 2011 AFX News
